Shaymen seek hat-trick of wins

Town will be bidding to extend their winning run to three in a row when they entertain lowly Hinckley United at the Shay tomorrow.

Neil Aspin’s side have yet to complete a hat-trick of victories in Blue Square Bet North and their win last weekend against Blyth was only the second time they had managed back to back wins this term.

Despite that they are in the thick of the race for a play off place, sixth in the table just four points behind Gainsborough Trinity who they face home and away over the Festive period.

The win over the north easterners six days ago was their first at home in the league since October and provided a much-needed boost approaching the halfway stage of the league campaign.

While Town were winning, Hinckley gained a morale-boosting away victory last weekend when they knocked Blue Square Bet Premier leaders Wrexham out of the FA Trophy in north Wales.

Sam Belcher and Andre Gray got the goals although it must be noted that Wrexham made nine changes to their regular team with promotion back to the Football League their clear priority this season.

The Leicestershire side have conceded the thick end of three goals a game on their travels and were beaten 4-0 at Hyde and 3-0 at Guiseley.

They also conceded five against a Bishop’s Stortford side currently alongside them in the drop zone

Having said that, Hinckley have had it tough on the road this season, with plenty of their games coming against teams currently in the top half of the table.

They have won twice - at Droylsden and Solihull Moors - and drawn with Glouseter City and rock bottom Blyth Spartans.

Town have, of course, already played Hinckley this season in one of the more bizarre games of football they have played under Aspin.

As capitulations go, this was a big one because up to the 67th-minute mark the Shaymen were cruising, two goals to the good and completely dominant.

They managed to change from a fluent passing side creating chances - enough of them to have won three games - to a team that looked hesitant all over the pitch, but especially defending in and around their own six yard box.

Lee Gregory and the recently-departed Harry Winter scored the Town goals.

Gray pulled one back and it was panic stations at the back for Town with Danny Newton levelling it up with 13 minutes to go and former Town loanee Luke Dean completing a remarkable comeback.

Seven days later it got even worse for the Shaymen as they went down 5-1 at home to Vauxhall Motors.

That was the low point of the current campaign and since then they have looked, for the majority of matches, like a side that can push for a top five finish with just a couple of defeats in their last 11 outings.

Three points tomorrow will help their bid to move further up the table no end of good.